As close as God's pocket...

My wanderings you have counted; my tears are stored in your flask; are they not recorded in your book?"
Psalm 56:9

I love this scripture, don't you? The picture of our loving God storing our tears in a flask just stuns me. Our God is so intimately woven through every breath we take and every cell in us. It's like when our kids were small and they would get hurt...we would wince in pain ourselves. When we are hurt, God aches with us. When we are joyful, God rejoices with us. When I was in high school, I dated a fellow my mom just loved. She always said when I was with Jim I was as safe as if I was in God's pocket. Let's picture ourselves in God's pocket today and throughout the weekend. Let's hold this scripture in our hearts and appreciate how close our God is to us every minute! Love, heidi

And be kind...

"And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ."
Ephesians 4:32

I was shocked and saddened, yesterday, to learn the care-taker of our office building...a guy I had a waving-from-one-end-of-the-hall-to-the-other relationship with for the past six years, just collapsed and died in the building parking lot. Just like that. Last Friday afternoon. One day he was helping me with the flukey electricity in the office, the next day he is gone. He wasn't that old...late sixties I guess. A little bit of reality, that. Did I thank him the last time I saw him for helping me and taking care of the building? I sure hope so. Let's remember to tell our loved ones that they are loved. Let's not let kind and loving words go unsaid. On the other hand, let's try and keep unloving words to ourselves. Life is so fragile! Today, let's celebrate the gift of life and our loved ones! And even those we may struggle to love...let's just love them, too! Love, heidi

Come and see...

"Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, 'What are you looking for?'"
John 1:38

This was part of last Sunday's Gospel and I am still thinking about it! I guess because it is so easy to put myself into the story. Here I am, following Jesus and Jesus turning to me and asking, "What are you looking for?" Such good food for thought, that. I would say that I am looking for peace and companionship from Jesus. Is that odd? The disciples didn't even answer Jesus' question to them, but they asked Him one, "Where are you staying?" To which Jesus replied, "Come and see." The whole exchange is fascinating to me because I can see it happening every day in our lives. We ask Jesus, "Where are you staying?" constantly. We often ask, where was God...in that mess, or that tragedy, or that unexpected crisis. Unless something wonderful or positive happens we may have a hard time seeing Jesus in the situation. But our need for Jesus, even our curiosity about Jesus gets the better of us and we ask, "Where are you staying?" And Jesus invites us to come and see...Come to me, come and experience what true love is. Today, let's take some time in prayer and have this conversation with Jesus. Love, heidi